Vietnam condemns Chinese aggression against fishermen in disputed south China sea
- In Reports
- 03:32 PM, Oct 04, 2024
- Myind Staff
Vietnam lashed out at China on Wednesday over an incident that transpired three days prior, involving an attack on a Vietnamese fishing boat in South China Sea territorial waters. During the attack, numerous fishermen suffered injuries.
In a statement, the Vietnamese foreign ministry claimed that while the fishermen's boat was operating close to Hoang Sa, Vietnam's name for the Paracel Islands, Chinese law enforcement beat them and stole their fishing gear. The Paracels are known as the Xisha Islands in China.
Vietnam also claims the Chinese-controlled islands, which are located in the South China Sea, a busy international maritime route that China controls nearly entirely. “Vietnam is extremely concerned, indignant and resolutely protests the brutal treatment by Chinese law enforcement forces of Vietnamese fishermen and fishing boats operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam,” foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang remarked in a statement.
According to Hang, the ministry sent a forceful protest demanding that China respect Vietnam's sovereignty, look into the incident, and stop taking similar actions in the future to the Chinese embassy in Hanoi. This week, state media in Vietnam said that about 40 individuals from two foreign vessels had physically assaulted the fishermen with iron pipes, resulting in 10 injuries.
China's foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that Chinese authorities had taken action to stop the Vietnamese boats from fishing illegally in Paracel waters without the Beijing government's consent. In reply to a Reuters request for comment, it stated, “The on-site operations were professional and restrained, and no injuries were found,” without making any reference to the attack.
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